Playoffs Week 1 Predictiosn

Salaam Everyone. Excuse my tardiness on this post. If you guys have a minute, enjoy these predictions for tonight. This season flew by quickly and now we are in the knockout stages. Losses always hurt, but losing now means the end of your season which brings a lot of emotions and retrospect. The failure of a playoff loss is tough to get over because you fell short of the goal you set out to achieve. I’d like to use this scenario as an example for a deeper concept. In life, we all have goals but our ultimate goal is to do enough on this Earth to be saved from entering the Hellfire, God forbid. Imagine The Day we Gather in front of our Lord. On that day, just like in these playoffs, there will be winners and losers. Imagine the feeling of losing on that day, the way your heart will drop and the world and everything in it caves on you, wondering where you went wrong and how you could’ve done things better. Basketball is just a game and still causes us to experience great emotion through it; However, this life is not a game and when all is said and done, you won’t have another season to make things right. May Allah save us from the Hellfire.

On to the first round

Jerusalem - Areeha:

To start things off, we have #4 Areeha and #13 Jerusalem. These two teams pride themselves on defense and working as a team to create consistent offense. Both teams have one or two players that are called on to run the show in their respective offenses. This is why I think this will be a close game. For me, what separates these two teams is the ability for the Areeha side ‘s best players to get their own basket. Jerusalems best players must utilize their team and be placed in good positions for them to make the largest possible impact they are capable of. However, Areehas stars orchestrate the offense, and score timely baskets, which are vital to success in the playoff atmosphere. Landfair and Sal are similar players and this will be a fun matchup to watch. Jerusalem definitely has a history with Singer so they may have something prepared to contain him.

Areeha by 7

Isdud - Haifa:

This is an interesting matchup because they’ve both had much different situations this season. Isdud started very poorly and Haifa started very hot. Isdud is on a 3 game win streak to close out the season behind sharp shooting and solid zone defense. I expect them to go some again tonight with Mo and Elijah on the other side. I don’t think Isdud has anyone to guard them straight up. For Haifa, Mo, Elijah and Anas are going to have to do it all for these guys on both ends of the floor. Some people may call this an upset but I think Isdud will shock a lot of people this week.

Isdud by 5

Yaffa - Ramla:

This is a rematch of Week 3 that ended at the buzzer. Both of these teams know eachother very well and there really is no introduction needed. We shall see how they match up tonight. Last time out, Yaffa was missing both of their bigs and it seems to take a toll at some point of the game. For Ramla to win they are gonna need at least two strong performances from their players, and I think it will really come down to Mana and Moayad. We’ll see which team comes with the better plan and execution tonight. You know where I stand.

Yaffa by 4


Nablus - Sabra:

I really like the roster Nablus put together and although they’ve been in a few tight games and it has been impressive, they now get caught in a terrible first round matchup. Goal on their mind is to limit Kai tonight as much as possible. Depending on how successful they are, they could see themselves fighting for the win down the stretch as some teams have been able to compete closely. On the Sabra side, more contributions from others should give this team an easy road out of this one but I feel that they will have to have Kai run the show for most of the way, regardless because the others have not proven they can carry the load. Hamzah Zeidan and Hashem Ahmed are X-factors while Nablus X-factor in this one is playing defense.

Sabra by 7


Qibya - Beit Jala:

I really won’t spend too much time here and waste the words. It was a great season to the Qibya guys and I applaud you for coming every week and fighting strong. Good luck tonight.

Beit Jala by 10


Yazur - Bethlehem:

Gonna rinse and repeat here. Great Season Yazur. Shock the world tonight inshallah.

Bethlehem by 10


Lod - Al-Bireh:

It’s wild that these two teams see each other in round 1 because they are two of the highest scoring teams in the league and two of the worst defending teams in the league. This game might end up in triple digits and I wouldn’t be that surprised. I will say, as bad as Al-Bireh has been, they still have showed slightly more promise than the Lod squad on the defensive side. For me, that is the key to a deep
Playoff run and that’s why I’ll take them tonight.

Al-Bireh by 6

Jenin - Gaza:

Last game of the week should be a great one. Jenin has had a pretty lackluster season so far but I think the biggest reason for this may not be personnel or chemistry. Many of their games have been played without key pieces and they even forfeited last week which dropped them a bit in the standings. They now must face a Gaza team that had looked like the runaway champs at the start of the season. Gaza has lost their last two games, which is not the way you want to enter the postseason. Both times they lost were tight games and against a zone defense, so that may be something for Jenin to work with. Jenin, to me, is the deeper squad but I just don’t know if they’ve had enough time to mesh as the season has progressed. I guess tonight will be the deciding factor.

Gaza by 8

As always, this ain’t Lavar Ball, this ain’t Lonzo Ball, this is the Crystal Ball